Overheard on the Web, and other Web links From The Herald's Research Editor

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Terrorism, intelligence, and war costs

Londonist discusses the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and has some interesting things to say about what this will mean for people in London, and the rest of us:

"It definitely wasn't a random event and of course it's still happening - the poor bastard was only on his way to work. This morning 7 million other people are doing the exact same thing. Already wary of others around them following the attacks are Londoners now going to have to think twice before running for a train in case plain clothes armed police have them in their sights?"

A commenter says one enterprising Web entrepreneur is already selling T-shirts that say "Don't shoot! I am not a terrorist!"

"As I finished reading the column, Joe ventured out onto his deck and offered a neighborly hello. I held up the paper and yelled over, "I had no idea about Valerie!" Joe looked stricken and gestured to me to keep my voice down. I immediately realized the "outing" of Valerie as a covert CIA operative had had a devastating effect on the Wilson family. In the weeks to follow, I came to understand just how harrowing the disclosure was. Obviously, the identification of Valerie meant an end to her decades-long career. It also meant the country had lost an essential part of the services provided by someone who was an expert on weapons of mass destruction."

Left I on the media wondered why only one newspaper mentioned one thing that Lance Armstrong said after winning the Tour de France:

"The biggest downside to a war in Iraq is what you could do with that money. What does a war in Iraq cost a week? A billion? Maybe a billion a day? The budget for the National Cancer Institute is four billion. That has to change."

I hadn't seen this site before but they do seem to link to news I haven't seen anywhere else.....(The following story is about Jane Fonda's new antiwar protest: "In a related story, right-wingers across the land died of an overdose of ectasy.")

Elisabeth (Liz) Donovan was a Herald librarian for 10 years, and Research Editor for 13 years. She came to The Herald in 1981, following several years at the
Washington Post. She started blogging in 2000, with a news research blog, followed by the blog at Herald.com in 2003. A frequent speaker and writer on news research, she was honored in 2004 by the
News Division of the Special Libraries Association for her contributions to
the field.